Card-retaining matrix drum for statistical machines



Oct. 17, 1967 w. LEATHERS 3,

CARDRETAINING MATRIX DRUM FOR STATISTICAL MACHINES Filed May 17, 1963 F/G/O F/G.

. INVENTOR. WARD LEATHERS United States Patent 3,348,028 CARD-RETAINING MATRIX DRUM FOR STATISTICAL MACHINES Ward Leathers, Massapequa Park, N.Y., assignor to Education Methods Council, Inc., Sea Cliff, N.Y. Filed May 17, 1963, Ser. No. 281,208 7 Claims. (Cl. 235-6111) ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE A wrap-around type matrix drum for cards and having special application to educational statistical machines. A slot in the drum captures the leading edge of the card. The length of the card is less than the circumference of the drum so that a space exits between the leading and the trailing edges of the card when wrapped on the drum. A thumb-operated pusher member is exposedin this space and, when depressed, it forces an internal ejector radially outwardly against the captured edge of the card and deposits this edge between the forefinger and thumb of the operator.

The improved rotary card-retaining matrix drum assembly comprising the present invention has been designed for use primarily in connection with record controlled statistical machines for measuring the performance of students or'other examinees in response to certain types of examinations. Such machines operate upon record cards, which have been punched or otherwise perforated, or simply marked, in accordance with the examinees answers to a set of test questions, to electrically sense the presence, absence or positions of the perforations or marks on the cards, and, in response to such sensing, tally the number of correct or incorrect answers and, if desired, perform various other operations as, for example, producing a perforated, printed or otherwise marked record of the responses represented by the original perforations in the cards. One such statistical machine capable of employing the card-retaining matrix drum of the present invention has been shown and described in my United States Patent No. 3,176,414, granted on Apr. 6, 1965 and entitled, Test Scoring and Recording Machine.

The invention is, however, capable of other uses and the card-retaining matrix drum of the present invention, if desired, with or without modification, may be employed in connection with a wide variety of accounting machines regardless of their function, or of the significance of the data represented by the perforations or marks on the cards. Irrespective of the particular use to which the present card-retaining drum may be put, the essential features of the invention remain substantially the same.

It is among the principal and general objects of the present invention to provide a rotary card-retaining matrix drum, capable of use as outlined above, and having associated therewith a simple and practical means for facilitating installation of the card on the drum, as well as removal thereof from the drum, such means involving considerably less manipulating procedure or card adjustment than has heretofore been required in connection with conventional existing card-retaining drums designed for the same purpose.

- A more specific object of the invention, in a card re- 3,348,028 Patented Oct. 17, 1967 taining drum of this character, is to provide a novel card ejecting mechanism which is wholly contained by the drum itself, has no association with extraneous machine mechanism, is normally disposed entirely within the cylindrical confines of the drum, and has associated therewith a depressible operating plunger, a limited portion of which is presented at the surface of the drum where it is readily accessible for manipulation thereof when it is desired to remove a card from the drum.

A further object of the invention is to provide a cardretaining drum in which the novel ejecting means associated therewith, when manually actuated, serves to lift or force a portion of the card away from the drum and project the same between the thumb and forefinger of the operator who, by then closing his grip upon the projected portion of the card, may readily pull the remainder of the card from the drum. Stated otherwise, the mechanism for ejecting the card according to the present invention is so designed that when the manipulating plunger thereof is forcibly depressed by the forefinger of the operator, the position of the hand is such that the thumb and forefinger are in a natural position to receive a portion of the card therebetween and the ejecting plunger of the mechanism then operates to project such portion between the thumb and forefinger where, upon closing of these fingers upon each other, the card will be securely captured without requiring even a glance on the part of the operator.

The provision of a card-retaining drum which is extremely simple in its design and construction and which therefore may be manufactured at a low cost; one which is comprised of a minimum number of parts, particularly moving parts and which therefore is unlikely to get out of order; one which is rugged and durable and which therefore will withstand rough usage; one which is capable of ease of assembly and dismantling thereof for purposes of inspection of parts, replacement thereof, or repair; and one which, otherwise is well adapted to perform the services required of it, are further desirable features which have been borne in mind in the production and development of the present invention.

Numerous other objects and advantages of the invention, not at this time enumerated will become readily apparent as the following description ensues.

In the accompanying single sheet of drawings forming a part of this specification, one illustrative embodiment of the invention has been shown.

In these drawings:

FIG. 1 is a side elevational view, partly in section, of a card-retaining matrix drum constructed in accordance with the principles of the present invention;

FIG. 2 is a sectional view taken substantially along the line 2 2 of FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 is an end elevational view of a depressible pusher bar or plunger employed in connection with the present invention;

FIG. 4 is a bottom plan view of the structure shown in FIG. 3;

FIG. 5 is a sectional view similar to FIG. 2 with the parts shown in their card-ejecting position;

FIG. 6 is a plan View of a slidable guide plate employed in connection with the invention;

FIG. 7 is an end elevational view of the structure shown in FIG. 6;

FIG. 8 is a bottom plan view of a card-ejecting plunger employed in connection with the invention;

FIG. 9 is an end elevational view of the structure shown in FIG. 8;

FIG. 10 is a plan view of a rocker arm employed in connection with the invention; and

FIG. 11 is a side elevational view of the structure shown in FIG. 10.

Referring now to the drawings in detail and in particular to FIGS. 1 and 2, a card-receiving matrix drum assembly constructed according to the present invention has been designated in its entirety at 10. This drum assembly 10 is shown as being operatively installed upon a base plate 12 between a pair of side plates 14 and 16 supported on the base plate. The base plate 12 and side plates 14, 16 may constitute a portion of the stationary framework associated with a conventional accounting machine or a statistical tallying machine of the type shown and described in my above-mentioned Patent No. 3,176,414. Such a machine is designed, by means of a sensing brush such as has been shown at B in FIG. 2 to sense the perforations, marks or other data-indicating means provided on a record card C operatively mounted on the drum, and to indicate, classify, record, accumulate, or otherwise perform uesful work of any desired character of which the machine is capable in connection with the sensing of the indicia on the card. The character of the indicia on the card, the nature of the sensing means, and the use to which the sensed data on the card may be put form no part of the present invention, the invention residing rather in the character of the drum assembly 10 and the manner in which the card C is applied to and removed therefrom. For exemplary purposes herein it may be assumed that the card C is of the perforated type, the perforations therein representing data which is to be sensed by the sensing brush B. It will be understood however that, if desired, the card C may be imperforate and provided with electrically conductive data-representing marks thereon capable of brush-sensing, or the card may be provided with visible light beam-interrupting marks or portions susceptible to photocell scanning equipment instead of the brush B. Irrespective therefore of the specific character of the card C or of the scanning means whereby data which has been applied to the card may be read out, the essential features of the invention are in no way altered.

Still referring to FIGS. 1 and 2, the drum 10 involves in its general organization a cylinder 20, the opposite ends of which are provided with closure disks 22 and 24. A pair of similar and spaced medial disks 26 and 28 are provided internally of the cylinder on opposite sides of a central transverse plane and serve both a cylinder-reinforcing and mechanism-supporting function as will be made clear presently. A shaft 30 extends horizontally through the disks 22, 24, 26 and 28 centrally thereof and has its opposite end regions rotatably journalled in bearings 32 and 34 carried by the side plates 14 and 16 respectively, the bearings being formed of an electrically insulating material as, for example, a suitable moldable plastic material, pressed fiber or the like. A drive gear 36 of similar insulating material is secured as at 38 to the shaft exteriorly of the cylinder 20 and is designed for mating engagement with a gear, worm, pinion or other element (not shown) of a power train associated with the particular statistical or other machine with which the drum assembly 10 may be associated. A spring contact element 40, carried on an insulating block 42 mounted on the base plate 12 makes electrical contact at 44 with one end of the shaft 30 and is adapted to be electrically connected to suitable control circuitry associated with the statistical machine to complete the brush or other sensing circuit. A cam 46 of insulating material is secured as at 48 to the shaft 30 exteriorly of the cylinder 20 and may serve any of numerous useful functions in connection with the operation of the statistical machine, as for example actuating a print hammer, a card picker mechanism or the like. The cam 46 and its function form no part of the present invention and no claim is made herein to any novelty associated therewith, its illustration in the drawing being made simply because this cam, together with the drive gear 36, cooperate in maintaining the shaft 30 fixed against axial shifting with respect to the side plates 14 and 16.

The cylinder 20 is provided with an elongated narrow slot 50 therein, the slot extending completely through the cylinder wall and being coextensive with the longitudinal extent of the cylinder, i.e. extending from one end of the cylinder to the other. Notches such as appear at 52 in FIG. 1 are provided in all of the disks 22, 24, 26 and 28 in horizontal register with the slot 50 for card clearance purposes. A card such as the card C and which is designed for use in connection with the present drum assembly lib is of a width substantially equal to the longitudinal extent of the cylinder 20 and a small limited area at one end edge region of the card is adapted to be turned laterally out of the plane of the card so that it may be inserted within the slot 50 and notches 52 and the main body of the card then partially wrapped around the cylinder as shown in dotted lines in FIG. 2. To facilitate this lateral turning of such end region of the card, the card may be scored or dash-cut along a transverse line near the end edge of the card. The side members 14 and 16 are spaced apart a distance substantially equal to the transverse width of the card so that these members may serve to center the card on the cylinder 26.

As shown in FIG. 1, a rectangular area of the cylinder wall above the slot 50 in the leading direction of cylinder rotation is cut away as at 54, thus providing a rectangular opening in one side of the cylinder medially between the opposite ends of the cylinder. The longitudinal extent of this opening is preferably, but not necessarily, equal to substantially the distance between the medial disks 26 and 28. The longitudinal extent of the card C is such that when the laterally turned end portion of the card is operatively positioned within the slot 50 as described above, the wrapped card on the cylinder 20 will have its free end edge terminating in the vicinity of the upper edge of the opening 54, thus leaving the area of the opening exposed as best seen in FIG. 2. The card C is held in its wrapped condition about the circumference of the cylinder 20 by means of a series of rollers R, several of which appear in dotted lines in FIG. 2. These rollers constitute no part of the present invention and are rotatably mounted at fixed points on the statistical machine framework.

The drum assembly 10 is of the one-revolution type, which is to say that the drive mechanism for turning the gear 36 is adapted to be actuated or energized intermittently and for a length of time suflicient to impart one full revolution of 360 to the drum, during which revolution sensing operations take place in the usual manner. It also is contemplated that the drum be manually rotatable to the end that after insertion of the laterally turned end region of the card in the slot 50, the drum will carry the card beneath the various rollers R to its wrapped position on the cylinder 20.

An upper rod .60 and a lower rod 62 extend between the two disks 26 and 28 and provide supporting means for two oppositely movable or slidable assemblies, namely a pusher assembly 64 and a card-ejector assembly 66 (FIGS. 1, 2 and 5). The two assemblies 64 and 66 are constrained to move horizontally in opposite directions by means of a pair of interconnecting rocker arms 68 loosely carried on the shaft 30.

The pusher assembly 64 is comprised of three parts, including a horizontal pusher plate or plunger 70 (see also FIGS. 3 and 4) having a laterally turned exposed manipulating flange 72 which normally assumes a position within the rectangular opening 54 and completes the cylindrical contour of the cylinder 20. The two other parts are of complementary design and each is in the form of a substantially fiat vertical disposed slide member 74 of irregular contour. One side edge of the pusher plate 70 is welded or otherwise secured to the upper edge regions of each slide member 74 to complete the pusher assembly 64. Each slide member 74 is formed with upper and lower oppositely directed notches 76 and 78 therein which loosely receive the rods 60 and 62 so that the slide member is horizontally slidable on the rods between the normally retracted position wherein it is shown in FIG. 2 and the depressed or advanced position wherein it is shown in FIG. 5. Openings 79 in the slide members 74 afford a clearance for the shaft 30. The bottoms of the notches 76 and 78 limit these two extreme positions of the slide members 74 and consequently of the entire pusher assembly.

The ejector assembly 66 is somewhat similar to the pusher assembly 64 and it is comprised of three parts including an ejector member or plunger 80 and a pair of complementary vertically disposed slide members 82. The member 80 is in the form of a flat plate having laterally turned ears 84 (see also FIGS. 8 and 9) at adjacent corner regions thereof. These ears 84 are welded to the inside faces of the respective slide members 82 to complete the ejector assembly 66. The slide members 82 have central openings 85 through which the shaft 30 extends, and a notch 86 by means of which the slide members are supported and slidable on the rod 62 and shaft 30. Each slide member 82, and consequently the associated ejector assembly 64, is thus movable between the normal retracted position wherein it is shown in FIG. 2 and the advanced position wherein it is shown in FIG. 5. In the advanced or projected position of the ejector assembly, one longitudinal edge (FIGS. 5 and 8) is projected outwardly beyond the confines of the cylinder 20 for cardejecting purposes as will be described presently. In the retracted position of the assembly 64, all of the parts thereof are wholly disposed within the confines of the cylinder 20.

One of the two previously mentioned rocker arms 68 has been shown in detail in FIGS. 10 and 11 and each rocker arm is in the form of a lever having a central opening 87 therein through which the shaft 30 is adapted to extend. Laterally turned ears 88 at the distal upper ends of the rocker arms 68 project into slots 90 in the slide members 74, while similar ears 92 at the distal lower ends of these rocker arms project against shoulders 94 on the slide members 82, thus interconnecting the two pairs of slide members, and consequently the two assemblies 64 and 66 together in see-saw fashion for sliding movement in opposite directions respectively. Springs 96, each attached at one end to one of the slide members 82, and at the other end to the rod 62, serve to maintain the pusher assembly 64 and ejector assembly 66 in their normal retracted positions as shown in FIG. 2.

i In describing the operation of the present card-retaining matrix drum assembly 10, it will be assumed that the assembly is operatively installed in a suitable statistical or other accounting machine having the necessary drumactuating equipment such as means for effecting periodic one-revolution turning movements of the drum assembly, means for releasing the drum for manual turning thereof during card installation and removal procedures, sensing means such as the brushes B, and such other electrical and mechanical control mechanism as may be deemed necessary to attain the desired machine functions. Placement of a card C in operative position on the drum assembly may be effected by causing the drum to be rotated until its angular disposition is such that the slot 50 is accessible for card insertion. Thereafter the short end region of the card adjacent to the scored or dash-cut transverse line is inserted in the slot 50 and the drum assembly is rotated in the direction of the arrow in FIG. 2 to cause the card to move beneath the rollers R and the main body portion of the card to be wrapped around the cylinder so that it assumes the position shown in dotted lines in this view. It is to be noted at this point that the free edge of the card will lie clear of the manipulating flange 72 of the pusher plate 70 so that this flange 72 will be completely exposed for manipulation at the time it is desired to remove the card C from the drum assembly. The side edges of the card will be guided between the two medial disks 26 and 28 and thus the card will be accurately centered on the cylinder 20.

After the card C has been thus positioned on the drum assembly, the latter is caused to be rotated throughout 360, thus effecting one card-reading cycle of machine operation. Thereafter, in order to remove the card from the cylinder 20, it is merely necessary for the operator to depress the pusher plate or plunger 70 by engaging the manipulating flange 72 with the forefinger of one hand, whereupon the pusher assembly 64 including the three parts 70, 74, 74 will slide to the right as viewed in FIG. 2, while the rocker arm 68 will be caused to rotate in a clockwise direction, thus causing the card-ejecting assembly 66 including the three parts 80, 82, 82 to shift to the left. Such shifting of the card-ejecting assembly will cause the ejector member or plunger to be projected out of the confines of the cylinder 20 so that the leading edge thereof (FIGS. 5 and 8) will force the scored end region of the card outwardly and withdraw the laterally turned card flap from the slot 50 and place the adjacent end region of the card between the forefinger which, at the time, is maintaining the pusher plate 70 depressed, and the thumb. The operator then, by simply closing his grip upon the card with the thumb and forefinger, may capture the same and pull the card from the drum. At the same time that the card is thus pulled from the drum, the springs 96 restore the parts to their original positions wherein the manipulating flange 72 again falls within the peripheral confines of the cylinder 20. The drum assembly 10 is then conditioned for reception of the next card in the series of cards undergoing treatment.

The invention is not to be limited to the exact arrangement of parts shown in the accompanying drawings or described in this specification as various changes in the details of construction may be resorted to without departing from the spirit of the invention. Therefore, only insofar as the invention has particularly been pointed out in the accompanying claims is the same to be limited.

Having thus described the invention, what I claim and desire to secure by Letters Patent is: a 1. A rotatable card-retaining matrix drum assembly for use in connection with a card-controlled statistical machine or the like, said assembly comprising a tubular cylinder about which the card is adapted to be wrapped in circumferential fashion, the wall of said cylinder being formed with a first opening therein which radially underlies a portion of the card when the latter is wrapped on the cylinder, and with a second opening which is exposed when the card is wrapped on the cylinder, at manually engageable, diametrically slidable pusher member in radial register with said second opening and accessible through said latter opening for manipulation, a diametrically slidable ejector member in radial register with said first opening, said ejector member being movable in a generally radial direction between a retracted position wherein it is disposed wholly within the confines of the cylinder and an advanced position wherein a portion thereof is projected outwardly through said first opening for forcing the adjacent portion of the wrapped card radially outwardly and away from the wall of the cylinder, said pusher member being movable in a generally radial direction between an outer retracted position wherein it lies within the confines of the cylinder and in close proximity to the second opening and an advanced inner position wherein it is forced radially inwardly of the cylinder an appreciable distance, interengaging means extending between the pusher and ejector members constraining the same to move in unison and in opposite radial directions, and spring means yieldingly maintaining said members in their respective retracted positions.

' 2, A rotatable card-retaining matrix drum assembly as set forth in claim 1, wherein said pusher member, when in its retracted position, is provided with a finger-engaging surface area which lies in the circumferential cylindrical confines of the cylinder wall and substantially closes said second opening.

3. A rotatable card-retaining matrix drum assembly for use in connection with a card-controlled statistical machine or the like, said assembly comprising, in combination, a tubular cylinder, the wall of which is formed with an elongated longitudinally extending narrow slot therein designed for reception therein of one end edge region of a card to the end that the card may be wrapped around the cylinder with said edge region remaining within the slot, the wall of said cylinder also being formed with an enlarged opening therein in close proximity to said slot a diametrically slidable, depressible pusher member disposed within said cylinder and having a portion thereof in radial register with said opening and accessible through the latter for manipulation, a diametrically slidable ejector member disposed within said cylinder and having a card-engaging portion thereof in radial register with said slot, said pusher member being movable in a generally radial direction between a normal retracted position wherein said accessible portion thereof is in close proximity to said Opening and a depressed advanced position wherein said accessible portion is disposed well within the confines of the cylinder, said ejector member being movable in a generally radial direction between a normal retracted position wherein it is disposed wholly within the confines of the cylinder and an advanced position wherein said card-engaging portion thereof is projected outwardly of the confines of the cylinder through said slot, said card-engaging portion, when so projected, serving to engage the card in the vicinity of said one edge region and forcibly eject the latter radially outwardly of the cylinder and thus withdraw the same from said slot, interengaging means effective between the pusher member and the ejector member constraining the members to move in opposite radial directions, and spring means yieldingly maintaining said members in their respective retracted positions.

4. A rotatable card-retaining matrix drum assembly as set forth in claim 3, wherein said elongated slot and enlarged opening adjoin each other in circumferential communication, wherein the opening leads the slot in the direction of rotation of the cylinder, wherein the slot is coextensive with the axial extent of the cylinder, and wherein the opening is of appreciably less axial extent than the axial extent of the cylinder and is medially disposed between the ends of the cylinder.

5. A card-retaining matrix drum assembly of the character described and designed for unidirectional rotation about its central longitudinal axis, said assembly comprising a tubular cylinder, a drive shaft projecting axially through the cylinder, radial supports extending between the drive shaft and cylinder for centering the cylinder relative to the drive shaft and establishing a driving connection between the shaft and cylinder, said cylinder being formed with an elongate narrow longitudinally extending slot therein designed for reception of one end edge region of a card which is to be retained upon the cylinder with the remaining portion of the card being turned laterally and Wrapped around the cylinder in circumferential fashion in the trailing direction of drum rotation and with the extreme trailing end edge of the card falling short of said one end edge region so that a limited area of the cylinder is exposed when the card is fully wrapped on the cylinder, said limited area of the cylinder being formed with an enlarged opening therein in close proximity to said slot, guide means fixedly mounted on said cylinder internally thereof, a pusher member disposed within said cylinder and slidable on said guide means in a radial direction, said pusher member having a portion thereof in radial register with said enlarged opening whereby it is accessible for manipulation through the opening when the card is wrapped on the cylinder, an ejector member disposed within said cylinder and slidable on said guide means in a radial direction, said ejector member having a card-engaging portion thereof in radial register with said elongated slot and adapted to underlie the card in the vicinity of said one edge region thereof when the card is wrapped on the cylinder, said pusher member being movable between a retracted position wherein said portion thereof is disposed within and substantially closes said opening and an advanced position wherein said portion is disposed well within the cylindrical confines of the cylinder, said ejector member being movable between a retracted position wherein said card-engaging portion thereof is disposed wholly within the confines of the cylinder and an advanced position wherein said card-engaging portion is projected radially outwardly through said slot in card-engaging relationship for withdrawing said end edge region of the card from the slot, interengaging means extending between the pusher and ejector members constraining the same to move in opposite directions, and means yieldingly biasing said pusher and ejector members toward their retracted positions.

6. A card-retaining matrix drum assembly as set forth in claim 5, wherein said interengaging means between the pusher and ejector members comprises a rocker arm mounted for oscillatory movement on the shaft and having distal end regions operatively connected to the pusher and ejector members respectively whereby the members are operatively connected together in see-saw relationship.

7. A card-retaining matrix drum assembly of the character described and designed for unidirectional rotation about its central longitudinal axis, said assembly comprising a tubular cylinder, a drive shaft projecting axially through said cylinder and having end portions which project outwardly beyond the ends of the cylinder and by means of which the shaft may be rotatably journalled in bearings, closure disks at the ends of the cylinder connected to the shaft and rim regions of the cylinder for supporting the cylinder for rotation in unison with the shaft, a pair of spaced apart medial disks having their peripheral regions secured to the cylinder and provided with openings therethrough through which the drive shaft extends, a pair of diametrically disposed longitudinally extending guide rods having end regions secured in said medial disks and bridging the distance between the latter, said cylinder being formed with an elongated narrow longitudinally extending slot therein adapted to receive therein one edge region of a card to the end that the remaining region of the card may be wrapped circumferentially about the cylinder in the trailing direction of drum rotation, said cylinder being formed with an enlarged opening therein adjacent to said slot and in advance thereof with respect to the direction of rotation of the drum, a pusher assembly disposed within said cylinder and including side plates provided with slots therein through which said guide rods extend whereby the side plates are slidably carried on the rods for radial movement in opposite directions, and a connecting pusher plate proper extending between the side plates, said pusher plate proper being in radial register with said enlarged opening and being accessible for manipulation through the opening, an ejector assembly disposed within the cylinder and including side plates provided with a slot therein through which one of said guide rods extends and provided with a second slot therein through which the drive shaft extends whereby the side plates are slidably carried on said shaft and latter guide rod for radial movement in opposite directions, and a connecting ejector plate proper extending between said latter side plates, said ejector member being in radial register with said slot, said pusher assembly being movable bodily as a unit between a retracted position wherein the ejector plate proper is disposed wholly within the confines of the cylinder and an advanced position wherein said ejector plate proper yieldingly maintaining said assemblies in their retracted is projected radially outwardly of the cylinder through positions.

the slot for card-ejecting purposes, a pair of rocker arms References Cited mounted for limited rocking movement on said drive UNITED STATES PATENTS shaft and having their opposite ends connected to the side 5 plates of the pusher assembly and the ejector assembly 1,177,933 4/1916 Dausman 29-118 respectively and constraining said assemblies to move in 31203974 8/1965 Monaghan 29-418 opposite directions, and a pair of springs having their opposite ends connected to the side plates of one of said DARYL COOK Acting "nary Examme" assemblies and to one of the guide rods respectively for 10 R. COUNCIL, Assistant Examiner. 

1. A ROTATABLE CARD-RETAINING MATRIX DRUM ASSEMBLY FOR USE IN CONNECTION WITH A CARD-CONTROLLED STATISTICAL MACHINE OR THE LIKE, SAID ASSEMBLY COMPRISING A TUBULAR CYLINDER ABOUT WHICH THE CARD IS ADAPTED TO BE WRAPPED IN CIRCUMFERENTIAL FASHION, THE WALL OF SAID CYLINDER BEING FORMED WITH A FIRST OPENING THEREIN WHICH RADIALLY UNDERLIES A PORTION OF THE CARD WHEN THE LATTER IS WRAPPED ON THE CYLINDER, AND WITH A SECOND OPENING WHICH IS EXPOSED WHEN THE CARD IS WRAPPED ON THE CYLINDER, A MANUALLY ENGAGEABLE, DIAMETRICALLY SLIDABLE PUSHER MEMBER IN RADIAL REGISTER WITH SAID SECOND OPENING AND ACCESSIBLE THROUGH SAID LATTER OPENING FOR MANIPULATION, A DIAMETRICALLY SLIDABLE EJECTOR MEMBER IN RADIAL REGISTER WITH SAID FIRST OPENING, SAID EJECTOR MEMBER BEING MOVABLE IN A GENERALLY RADIAL DIRECTION BETWEEN A RETRACTED POSITION WHEREIN IT IS DISPOSED WHOLLY WITHIN THE CONFINES OF THE CYLINDER AND AN ADVANCED POSITION WHEREIN A PORTION THEREOF IS PROJECTED OUTWARDLY THROUGH SAID FIRST OPENING FOR FORCING THE ADJACENT PORTION OF THE WRAPPED CARD RADIALLY OUTWARLDY AND AWAY FROM THE WALL OF THE CYLINDER, SAID PUSHER MEMBER BEING MOVABLE IN A GENERALLY RADIAL DIRECTION BETWEEN AN OUTER RETRACTED POSITION WHEREIN IT LIES WITHIN THE CONFINES OF THE CYLINDER AND IN CLOSE PROXIMITY TO THE SECOND OPENING AND AN ADVANCED INNER POSITION WHEREIN IT IS FORCED RADIALLY INWARDLY OF THE CYLINDER AN APPRECIABLE DISTANCE, INTERENGAGING MEANS EXTENDING BETWEEN THE PUSHER AND EJECTOR MEMBERS CONSTRAINING THE SAME TO MOVE IN UNISON AND IN OPPOSITE RADIAL DIRECTIONS, AND SPRING MEANS YIELDINGLY MAINTAINING SAID MEMBER IN THEIR RESPECTIVE RETRACTED POSITIONS. 